I was reminded of this topic in on one of my Lemmings videos.

So are there any plans for a change now?

Today we've got a bit of nitpicking.

The pack toolkit suggests under Title (second line):

"by Unknown Author"

In the main menu screen of the pack it is correctly displayed:

"by Unknown Author"

The level select screen however adds another "By" if you click on the pack there:

"By by Unknown Author"

So either:

- Remove the auto addition of the extra "By" in the level select screen. So users can put "by username" in the secondary title field as it is currently displayed.

- Add the addition of the extra "By" in the main menu screen as well. So users can put "username" in the secondary title field. The default display of "by Unknown Author" would need to change to "Unknown Author" then as well.

Some users were complaining about NL to stagnate and I think it has to do mainly with there only being 1 person on the code side of things now.

After I've finished up United and rewrote the NL manual, I could try and read myself into the code and help Nepster to speed up processes and reduce pressure.

It will take a long time to get myself into the massive block of code though and I will probably have to sacrifice a ton of free time before I start to be useful there + also I need to learn C# and Delphi in which I don't have programming experience in (I have mostly programmed in Java during my computer science bachelor), but I think we need reinforcements on this front more than anything else!

I'm done.

Do what you seem is right.

I'm sick of people getting all riled up in conversations, get emotional and try to blame persons, because someone is not on their side in a conversation or does not support their believes.

Try to convince Nepster, then you get your wish.

Icho out.

Seven months is not a long time. I've been working on GemLems for five months and I'm still on the first rank. We all have different amounts of real-life commitments, and it can be hard to squeeze in time to work on level creation.

Since IchoTolot's main argument seems to be that next to no-one liked and used ghosts when they were removed (failing to consider that several other people have joined the forums in the meantime), this is starting to fall apart right there:

Most packs of decent quality are at least several months in the making, if not a year. My first packs were rushed out pretty quickly, and as a consequence, their quality is a lot less consistent than my younger releases. namida seems to be able to create a lot of challenging levels + graphic sets in a very short amount of time, as demonstrated once again by Lemmings Plus VI. The majority of people however do take their time to develop larger packs:

For packs, yes. But given not even 1 other single level has used them in over half a year and no other packs annouced to use them, this time period seems very appropriate. Also no contest entry made use of them either and no contest rule excluded them.

Also, I miss the huge crowd here demanding ghosts. Where are all the people really starving to use them? Until now only Giga clearly stated he likes them and he was indeed the only other person who used them earlier.
ccexplore stated they feel somewhat overpowered and "namida's opinion that the old ghost gimmick didn't ultimately contribute much is perhaps a good data point to take into account".
Proxima criticised the time period they were available.

If there was a great demand from a lot for them (not just very few people), I would step aside and while still dislikeing and criticising them, try to tolerate them.

I'd totally go with the "pick the rules for the next contest" option... and then make those rules "create a level involving a ghost or a gimmick"!

That would not be possible. The contest are held in NL new format and Lix only. Both of them don't cover gimmicks. Maybe you can convince Simon to include some more gimmicks in Lix.

It's fine if they are simply available, IchoTolot; it's not like you have to use them if you don't like them!

Yes, I don't have to use them, but I think they reduce the quality of the program by bringing not much new and increase clutter and complexity by a lot. That is my main concern and when I have to make a huge argument again then so shall it be. I care for the program, therefore I state my concerns (even if that makes me somewaht harsh in the eyes of some).

Also ultimately you will have to convince Nepster, not me. He needs to see the use and demand for them.

You still seem to miss the other point I made in the last post.

Ghosts were an an idea that:

A) Was discarded and did not work out before.
B) Was mostly disliked.
C) Only 2 people (namida and GigaLem) used it at all, due no interest for them.
D) One of these 2 people even pushed for the removal (namida).
E) The suggested rework (removing the fear effect) will make it even less interesting, while the fear itself is very fiddly.

So I am even against the "try it out later". We've got better things to add and we will have better ideas that the majority of people will enjoy.

@IchoTolot: You wouldn't have to copy it over and over - just once .

That's how it all starts.

Ghosts, however, have very clearly defined uses and limitations

I'd also make the case that disarmers are less intuitive than ghosts

I know that ghosts can fly so I expect these ghosts to also fly around the map. Ghosts are far far far away from being intuitive.

Also I see the object ignoring not really valuable, there are enough substitutes for it as well. The fear part would be the only thing remotely interesting, but it can lead to very fiddly stuff, which I don't like.

may I remind you of features that got removed from Old to New Formats that are now being considered for reintroduction

All the cases you mentioned here, came together under vastly different circumstances than the big gimmick cull.

Back then we all actively discussed and decided to remove gimmicks.

All features you mentioned here are casualties to the great tool switch.

Backstory:
Nepster created a personal editor for himself back then. When the new formats came along, this freshly built editor, which was mostly built around Nepster's level creation needs, became the base for the new editor. In the next months we gave a ton of feedback for this editor to make it more generally accepted.
The way of inserting terrain was one of the most criticised things about the old editor, so this one took another route.

The toolkits had to be coded from skretch, so things like the "replace" button never were actively culled, they were just forgotten/overlooked.